{"id":238563,"date":"2021-05-07T10:31:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T14:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=238563"},"modified":"2021-05-07T10:31:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T14:31:44","slug":"cuba-crisis-of-an-industry-that-doesnt-take-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/economy\/cuban-economy\/cuba-crisis-of-an-industry-that-doesnt-take-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba: crisis of an industry that doesn\u2019t take off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once a leader in the world <\/span>sugar<\/span><\/a> market, Cuba is far from recovering the fruitful production volumes of the past in an industry considered the driving force of the country\u2019s <\/span>economy<\/span><\/a>, but which has failed to take off since its collapse in the 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the 156 sugar factories operating before 1959, 56 remain, and only 38 of them are grinding in the 2020-2021 harvest. And the 5.6 million tons of sugar collected in the year when the Revolution triumphed, or the seven and even eight million in the best seasons between 1970 and 1989, have been reduced to just over a million projected for the current harvest.<\/span><\/p>\n

The emblematic Cuban sugar industry has been affected in the last six decades by the U.S. financial and commercial <\/span>embargo<\/span><\/a>, with losses of some 125 billion dollars\u2014according to Havana estimates\u2014and the impossibility of accessing the United States market.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workers in the Boris Luis Santa Coloma Sugar Factory, which has stopped its sugar production, on April 29, 2021 in Madruga, Mayabeque (Cuba). Photo: Ernesto Mastrascusa\/EFE.<\/span><\/p>\n

Added to this are technological obsolescence, lack of fertilizers and fuels, low financial availability and other factors that slow down the development of this strategic sector\u2019s contribution of foreign exchange with exports of sugar, alcohol (especially rum), energy and other derivatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

This causes the frequent stoppage of production in the plants and the low quality of the raw material, which is essential in a long-cycle crop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the factories that still operate, many do so with the drive, the \u201cinventiveness\u201d and the sense of belonging of their own workers, such as the Boris Luis Santa Coloma (formerly San Antonio) sugar factory, 53 kilometers east of Havana.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to import sugar, supplies or parts, Cuba must overcome the embargo\u2019s financial persecution, the first vice president of the state group Azcuba, Jos\u00e9 Carlos Santos, told EFE.<\/span><\/p>\n

Added to this is the impact of hurricanes such as Irma, which cut down the slight growth experienced in 2011, after suffering in 2010 the worst harvest in 105 years with just one million tons.<\/span><\/p>\n

That hurricane devastated more than 430,000 hectares of sugarcane in 2017 and left about 20 factories with broken roofs and deteriorated structures.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, 700,000 tons of sugar have not been produced since 2017, Santos said in a meeting with the press.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cuba seeks a better sugar harvest after not meeting plan this year<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n